00:00:03
[ominous music] NARRATOR: In the United
States of America, some of the world's
most infamous criminals
00:00:10
are behind bars. Ranked among them
is the prisoner Joshua Dewayne Gardner. - He's not just
an impulsive, violent person.
00:00:24
He also has
the capability of being a calculated, premeditated,
violent person. NARRATOR: High
on a cocktail of drugs
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and willing to kill
for just $20, Gardner committed his first
murder at the age of 24.
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CHARLES VAUGHN:
He was screaming, "please don't, please stop." He knew he was dying.
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LINA HAJI: Gardner
wanted to hurt him. This isn't just a murder. This is a heinous murder.
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NARRATOR: Even
behind bars, Gardner couldn't contain his rage. PATRICK KING: It was
a brutal beating.
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There was blood on the floors,
the walls, toilet, and all over. Mr. Gardner killed without a
reason and no apparent motive.
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BRIAN SUDUL: There was
really no witnesses. It's in a cell. The only person that knows
the truth is just Gardner.
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[tense music] [theme music] NARRATOR: Situated in the heart
of Santa Rosa County
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is one of the state's
severest prisons. PATRICK KING: Santa Rosa
Correctional Institution
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is a higher level
prison in Florida, known as one of the tougher
prisons in Florida.
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It houses about 3,000 inmates
and a mixed classification, but it does offer
closed management,
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which is one
of the highest level prison supervisions offered. NARRATOR: Designed for holding
the most dangerous inmates
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in a prison where
many have committed the most serious of crimes. PATRICK KING: All types
of felonies, from grand theft
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to drug trafficking to violent
crimes, aggravated assault or aggravated battery,
murders, or sexual assaults,
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those kind of things. NARRATOR: In Santa Rosa
Correctional Institution, a notorious inmate
has demonstrated
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he needs the highest level
of security, the ruthless killer, Joshua Gardner. [ominous music]
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BRIAN SUDUL: He's violent. He's a dope fiend. People that snap like
this are way dangerous.
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There's no sign.
There's no warning. There's no nothing. You always treat them like
they're going to kill you.
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You never let them
get close to you. He should never be
around other inmates. CHARLES VAUGHN:
When I found out
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about what he did
to his cellmate, and putting that
together with everything I already know about him, I
believe that he would not stop.
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PATRICK KING: Mr. Gardner has
killed two people already. I definitely think he's
capable of killing again.
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[ominous music] NARRATOR: Born
on March 3, 1992, Joshua Dewayne Gardner grew
up in the state of Florida.
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CHARLES VAUGHN: Josh Gardner
was born in Dade City and the Pasco County area. Back then, it was pretty
rural agricultural.
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It's a laid back
area of Florida. You can drive-through it and
you don't meet too many people.
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They had brothers
and a half-brother. He had a mother,
and as far as his father,
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I don't believe the father
was too much in his life, if at all. - Gardner's father denied
that he was the father
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and rejected Joshua Gardner
as soon as he was born, if not before then. That can have a really
horrible impact on a child.
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It can affect them internally
in terms of mood and depression and low self-esteem and feeling
like they're unwanted right
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from the very beginning. It can also result
in externalizing behaviors such as poor emotional
regulation, aggression,
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inability to have
proper relationships as compared to other individuals. CHARLES VAUGHN: Josh had
grown up with his brothers and
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his mother and his stepfather. Josh was small and he was given
a hard time by his siblings
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because of his being small. But he also had
a bit of a temper. He got into fights
with his siblings.
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LINA HAJI: Bullying
can have really long lasting effects,
particularly when it's done by family members.
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He's also physically
smaller than his brothers. He's being picked on for that,
which is something
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that is out of his control. So we're seeing already
that Gardner has a lot of risk factors in his life.
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NARRATOR: Although
Gardner's mother had a long-term
relationship with the father
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of her fourth child, it
was a problematic one. CHARLES VAUGHN: Josh got
in trouble in his teen years,
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mainly because his stepfather
and he would have arguments, and many times
the stepfather would
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have some physical
confrontations and perform physical
abuse on his mother. And that upset Josh,
and his responses
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were generally violent. LINA HAJI: It seems it
wasn't just Gardner's mother who was the victim
of domestic violence,
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but also Gardner
and his siblings. Physical abuse towards
a child can be absolutely
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detrimental in multiple ways. It can result in symptoms
of depression, symptoms of anxiety.
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It can result in a mistrust
of the world, paranoia, an inability to have
closeness in relationships,
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understandably
so because you are unlikely to have
learned how to properly trust another human being.
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NARRATOR: Gardner's anger
towards his stepfather ultimately led to him being put
behind bars for the first time
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at the age of 18. WILLARD BRIAN STEPHENS:
He was arrested in 2010 in Pasco County
for an aggravated battery, that
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was a domestic case
against his stepfather, where he used a bat to either
batter his stepfather
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or at least assault him. And he spent roughly a year
in prison for that one. CHARLES VAUGHN: He'd had some
other incidences involving
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violence early in life. Unfortunately, a lot of his
early years he spent in prison.
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LINA HAJI: Gardner
is not just learning that people can come in and out
of your life very easily.
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He's also learning that
people come into your life can hurt you and will hurt you.
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This is not only
traumatic for a young boy, but it's really
conditioning him to believe that this is
a normal relationship
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between two adults. CHARLES VAUGHN: Josh was
below average intelligence and suffered from some
ADHD and some bipolar,
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and he was
on medication for that. He didn't always take
these medications. NARRATOR: He moved on from
prescription to illegal drugs.
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CHARLES VAUGHN: Apparently he
took cocaine, meth, marijuana, especially meth
because he thought
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that would cause him to focus
or allow him to focus, which helped him
with his bipolar
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and helped him with his ADHD. NARRATOR: Under the influence,
Gardner's criminal activities increased.
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WILLARD BRIAN
STEPHENS: He has had some arrests in Hernando
County as well as Pasco County.
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He had some grand
theft cases, as well as domestic battery cases
and aggravated battery cases.
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LINA HAJI: Gardner
starts to have multiple arrests throughout
his adolescence and early 20s.
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And not surprisingly,
some of those arrests are for domestic violence
and even strangulation.
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Now, it's important to note
that most victims of abuse do not go on to become
abusers themselves.
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That being said,
Gardner had absolutely no examples of what a healthy
relationship looks like.
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Gardner's life up until early
adulthood is really tragic, and it's easy to feel sorry for
him at this point in his life.
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NARRATOR: By the time
Gardner was 24 years old, he was well-known
to law enforcement
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and had already served 66
days in prison for the assault on his stepfather. But in 2016, he was a free
man, now living in Pasco County
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and in a new relationship. CHARLES VAUGHN:
Kayla Morrow was Josh's girlfriend at the time.
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I don't know how
exclusive it was, but that's
my understanding that they were boyfriend and girlfriend.
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LINA HAJI: According
to Gardner's mother, Gardner would do
anything for Morrow, but this didn't seem to be
the healthiest relationship
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and appeared to be a lot
of manipulation and heightened emotions,
and quite a toxic relationship
00:09:09
between Morrow and Gardner. NARRATOR: Gardner
and Morrow were hanging out with two
friends, Andrew Abbott and
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Brandon Harrelson. - They were smoking meth and
marijuana and doing cocaine. And apparently,
Kayla got jealous
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because she was thinking that
Josh was on Plenty of Fish. NARRATOR: One of many dating
websites, Plenty of Fish,
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was designed for single adults
to meet potential partners. CHARLES VAUGHN: So she went
on Plenty of Fish to see if she
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could find out if Josh
was on Plenty of Fish, but apparently he wasn't. She couldn't find that.
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But then Josh
and the other males, they decided, well, let's
pull a scam on Plenty of Fish.
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Let's have Kayla see
if she can find somebody that we could maybe cajole
into coming to meet us
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and we can rob them. We can get the drugs,
we can get the money, and then we could do whatever
we wanted to do with it.
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LINA HAJI: This
is where we start to see a little bit
of a shift in Gardner and the criminal activity he's
engaging in, because this is
00:10:18
calculated and a premeditated
kind of crime, because he's catfishing. Essentially, what
catfishing is,
00:10:24
is luring somebody online with
the use of some kind of persona in order to get a goal met.
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CHARLES VAUGHN:
So that was their plan and made contact
with Preston Talley. NARRATOR: Preston Talley
was the 35-year-old single
00:10:40
man from Gainesville, Florida. CHARLES VAUGHN: Preston Talley
was kind of a lonely guy,
00:10:47
from what I understand. And I think that
may have been what Josh may have
keyed into whenever
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trying to connect
with him and get him to come to Hernando County. NARRATOR: Within
hours, Gardner, Morrow,
00:11:02
and their two friends began
to put their plan into action. CHARLES VAUGHN:
Apparently, there
00:11:08
was some sexual flirtation
with Preston Talley, and we're going to have
a party in the woods.
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There was some
indication that there may be something for everybody. There's going to be
drugs, and they
00:11:21
just invited him to come down. But Preston Talley understood
it to be that it was probably
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going to be her
and him connecting up, but there would be
other people there that would be enjoying
the same thing
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that they would
be wanting to do. NARRATOR: The plan
was for Kayla to meet with Preston at a gas station.
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From there, they would
travel in their separate cars to a secluded location where
Gardner, Harrelson, and
00:11:48
Abbott were already waiting. WILLARD BRIAN
STEPHENS: Richloam Wildlife Management
Area is an area that
00:11:54
is set aside by the state. It's owned
by the state, and they have legal hunting out
there during the seasons,
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as well as hiking trails. Very wooded, mostly
pines and swamp areas, but it's pretty secluded.
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[ominous music] NARRATOR: When the two
vehicles arrived at the designated
meeting point,
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they parked up and got
out of their cars. CHARLES VAUGHN: Josh told
Kayla to take the keys out
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of the ignition, put
it in the back seat, then get in the back seat. NARRATOR: Things
immediately turned violent.
00:12:30
[ominous music] CHARLES VAUGHN: Josh allegedly
started chasing Preston Talley with the baseball bat.
00:12:40
So they chased him down. And along the way,
Josh Gardner had struck him several
times, either in the head
00:12:48
or on the body. There was hitting
and there was kicking. LINA HAJI: Gardner wanted
to hurt him, make him suffer.
00:12:59
And beating somebody
with a baseball bat is a very personal attack. It takes someone to be
up close and personal.
00:13:06
This isn't like shooting
them with a firearm. It's very gruesome. It's very heinous.
00:13:10
It's very hands-on. So now, we're seeing that
Gardner is indeed full of rage, full of hate, full of anger.
00:13:19
Gardner is just
incredibly violent. WILLARD BRIAN STEPHENS:
After the attack concluded,
00:13:24
they removed
the victim's clothing and took his cell phone,
his wallet, his keys.
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They got around $20 in cash
and just a small amount of methamphetamine from him.
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LINA HAJI: The idea was to rob
Preston for money and drugs. Gardner actually
meets with Preston
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and immediately attacks him. That tells me that
there may have been some forethought
into Gardner simply
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wanting to hurt somebody. Simply wanting
to kill somebody. NARRATOR: The four friends then
left Preston Talley for dead
00:14:07
and fled the scene, leaving
behind Preston's car. WILLARD BRIAN STEPHENS:
The suspects left the scene.
00:14:17
They responded back
to Kayla Morrow's trailer. She lived in a camper
in Dade City.
00:14:24
Once they got there,
they used a hammer to smash Mr. Talley's
keys as well as his phone.
00:14:32
And then they started a fire
pit outside their camper and burned these items,
or tried to burn them.
00:14:43
I'm Inspector Stephens
with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office. So in 2016, I was
working in the major case
00:14:50
section as a detective. I was relatively
new to that area. That area handles homicides,
rape cases, robberies,
00:14:59
and that type of crimes. The Sheriff's Office
received a call on this morning,
who advised that he
00:15:09
had found a subject
that he believed to be deceased out in the woods. So the deputies on scene, when
they made contact with him,
00:15:16
he led them to where
the subject was, the deceased subject. I was scheduled to be
on-call detective that day.
00:15:26
I received a call
from our dispatchers. They requested that I contact
the sergeant that was out
00:15:32
on the scene, and he
advised that it looked like it was a homicide scene. Once we got to the scene, we
walked roughly 100 yards east
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from the main road, from
McKinney sync road, which is unpaved, into this area. We found the vehicle.
00:15:52
We found the deceased body. At the time, we did
not know his identity. There was no identification
left at the scene.
00:16:01
He was nude, lying on his
back, severe trauma to his face and head,
and a broken right
00:16:09
arm, right about the forearm. Found a pair of broken
glasses on the scene and some little blood spatter
on the vehicle's bumper.
00:16:21
At the time, we did not
know if he had been run over or what the cause of death was.
00:16:26
It was very difficult to tell. Fortunately, one
of our first breaks is the vehicle was
there, so we were
00:16:32
able to run the tag
number on the vehicle and come up with a name
of Preston Talley.
00:16:38
NARRATOR: While
forensics worked to confirm the deceased
man's identity, Inspector Stephens
and his team turned
00:16:45
their attention to hunting
down the killer or killers. WILLARD BRIAN STEPHENS: We
had utilized phone records
00:16:53
from the victim and was able
to find out that he had been speaking to a Kayla Morrow.
00:16:58
[camera shutters] Once they did that, they did
further phone records search and found that she had mapped
in that location at some point
00:17:07
where the deceased was. [ominous music] As the investigation
progressed, phone records tied
her to Andrew Abbott.
00:17:16
And Facebook actually
led us to the boyfriend, which was Joshua Gardner. [ominous music]
00:17:25
NARRATOR: Scrolling
through hours of CCTV, police surveillance
observed Andrew Abbott's car
00:17:31
on the night of the murder
at the Circle K gas station. But it appeared that
Kayla Morrow was driving
00:17:41
and alone in the car. WILLARD BRIAN STEPHENS:
Once Ms. Morrow arrived at the Circle K, she
pulled into the gas pumps.
00:17:48
She exited and walked inside. She requested to purchase
$3 worth of gasoline, at which time the clerk
advised her that the pumps were
00:17:58
not working. So Ms. Morrow said,
"well, OK, that's OK." She went back to her vehicle,
got in, moved from the pumps
00:18:05
out to the sign, which
is close to the edge of Cordes Boulevard,
or 50 out in that area.
00:18:11
From there, she sat. NARRATOR: At this point,
a car pulled in and parked up. WILLARD BRIAN STEPHENS: Then
we witnessed Mr. Talley arrive.
00:18:21
He got out of his
car, was on his phone, and he walked directly
underneath the cameras.
00:18:26
At that point, Ms. Morrow moved
the silver or grayish colored blazer over to the diesel
side of the pumps
00:18:34
next to the parking lot. Mr. Talley went over
and spoke to her through the open
window for a moment
00:18:39
and then went back
to his vehicle. So we had the visual
identification as well as the phone records.
00:18:46
We saw Mr. Talley. He pulled up. Walked right
underneath the camera, so we had his identification.
00:18:52
They met and then they left
the parking lot heading east. NARRATOR: At this stage,
the police had identified
00:18:59
three potential suspects-- Morrow, Abbott, and Gardner. They had a vehicle
registration plate,
00:19:07
but the individuals were
nowhere to be found. WILLARD BRIAN
STEPHENS: The next day,
00:19:13
the suspects
apparently were worried about what had occurred. And they had some
friends out in Missouri.
00:19:21
At that point, they decided it
was best to flee to that area. They fled to Missouri.
00:19:26
NARRATOR: They were there
for less than 24 hours until they decided
to head back to Florida.
00:19:33
CHARLES VAUGHN: There
was some discussions about, well, we need
to go back, or one of them
00:19:36
said, I need to get back. And so they decided to turn
around and come back. NARRATOR: A tip off to the
police put them on high alert,
00:19:44
to be on the lookout for the
car returning to Florida. WILLARD BRIAN STEPHENS:
Once we learned
00:19:48
the suspects were
on their way back to Florida, we got our special
enforcement unit
00:19:53
who drive undercover vehicles,
unmarked vehicles to dispatch to the area of 75, up around
Ocala, to try to pick them up
00:20:01
while they were coming back. NARRATOR: But no
sooner had the suspects made it back into Florida, they
suddenly took a surprise turn.
00:20:10
WILLARD BRIAN STEPHENS:
They then turned north and had decided that they
were going to, I believe,
00:20:15
flee back to Missouri. Our special enforcement
unit at that point had found the suspects
and were following them.
00:20:22
Once they got
into Alachua County, the Alachua County
Sheriff's Office was able to stop the vehicle
and take all three
00:20:28
suspects into custody. NARRATOR: Officers
immediately began to interview
the suspects, starting
00:20:35
with 25-year-old Kayla Morrow. WILLARD BRIAN STEPHENS: Once
the interviews were conducted
00:20:39
with Kayla Morrow, we
were able to find out that she was speaking
to him through the text
00:20:45
application on the Plenty
of Fish, as well as by phone. However, she also said
that Joshua Gardner
00:20:51
was utilizing
the text application to speak to Mr. Talley. Ms. Morrow said that it was
all Joshua Gardner's idea
00:21:00
to do the robbery. She admitted to her
part in it, but not knowing that it was going
to end up being a homicide.
00:21:08
She did state, which is still
kind of a haunting thing, that somebody
at the scene said, "well,
00:21:14
Mr. Talley is not dead." And Mr. Gardner utilized the
bat to hit him again and state,
00:21:19
"now he is." NARRATOR: When the police
interviewed Abbott, he stated that he didn't have
much to do with the attack,
00:21:29
denying he had ever
struck Preston Talley. It was time to see what
Gardner had to say.
00:21:37
WILLARD BRIAN
STEPHENS: Mr. Gardner looked like he'd been
up for several days, and he did state
that he messed up.
00:22:13
[ominous music] He confirmed that he struck
the subject with a bat. He also demonstrated to the
detective in the interview room
00:23:11
how he swung the bat
at Mr. Talley. [ominous music] He gave a full confession
that he did murder Mr. Talley.
00:24:03
He did try to minimize
some of it. However, he did
admit to swinging the bat that ultimately led
to Mr. Talley being deceased.
00:24:11
[ominous music] LINA HAJI: I think
the reason Gardner is able to confess
to the police
00:24:18
and show him exactly how he
killed Preston with the bat, is because Gardner has been
desensitized from violence
00:24:24
since a very early age. This seems cold and
psychopathic to most people, and it very well can be.
00:24:34
But also, Gardner has only
understood violence as a way of life since he was a child.
00:24:59
NARRATOR: As Gardner
was being interviewed, more information was
coming in to the police.
00:25:04
WILLARD BRIAN STEPHENS:
We were learning from our contact
in Pasco County that there was a fourth suspect
named Brandon Harrelson.
00:25:11
They had dropped off Mr.
Harrelson at a gas station, and he was picked
up by a relative.
00:25:16
After the interviews
with the suspects, we develop probable cause
for Mr. Harrelson as well.
00:25:22
And he was apprehended in Pasco
County at a relative's home. NARRATOR: With all four
suspects now in custody
00:25:28
and charged with murder,
Gardner suddenly changed his version of the events. CHARLES VAUGHN: My name
is Charles Vaughn.
00:25:37
I'm a criminal
defense attorney. I first came into contact
with the case when I was appointed
to represent Josh Gardner,
00:25:45
and I went down
to the Hernando County jail to talk to Josh about
what was going on.
00:25:48
And initially, he
decided to tell me that he didn't do anything. It was everybody else.
00:25:54
Josh was very resistant. Josh didn't want to talk. Josh didn't trust attorneys. He'd been in trouble before.
00:26:01
He'd been to prison before,
and he didn't like attorneys. The biggest issue that
I had with his defense
00:26:06
was he made a confession. And it was a confession
that was video recorded, audio recorded.
00:26:22
He asked me, "can you
get this suppressed?" LINA HAJI: If a forensic
psychologist such as myself
00:26:28
can prove that the juvenile or
the adult, in this case low IQ, didn't understand what it meant
to waive your Miranda rights,
00:26:35
then the attorney can
get it suppressed. So there are multiple ways
to get confession suppressed.
00:26:41
Or if you can show that the
cops used coercive techniques. CHARLES VAUGHN: I
said, this is going
00:26:47
to be a real problem
for a motion to suppress, because you have
to have a willful and
00:26:52
consensual discussion
with law enforcement, and it's not forced
or coerced out of you.
00:26:57
And it doesn't look like there
was any coercion whatsoever. It was actually calm.
00:27:02
And he didn't
appear to be upset. He didn't appear to be
threatened in any way. And I told him,
there's nothing I
00:27:08
can do with your desire
to suppress this because it looks willing and uncoerced.
00:27:15
NARRATOR: As the investigation
progressed, Gardner's demeanor towards
his defense counsel
00:27:20
started to become menacing. - Josh would become angry
if I would disagree with him.
00:27:26
Many times, he would
confront my disagreement and he would say nasty things. And then he would
look like this
00:27:34
as he was going to come
across the table at me. Many times I'd have
to call one of the guards
00:27:40
and come in and take him
out of my visitation room because he would get so upset.
00:27:46
He was psychologically
evaluated to determine his intelligence and whether or
not he was competent to proceed
00:27:53
and understood what
the process was. And the findings were is that
he understood the process.
00:27:59
He did give the impression
to the forensic psychologist that he had lower intelligence.
00:28:05
And he did explain
to the psychologist that he had
a learning disability. LINA HAJI: This starts
to explain so much
00:28:12
about Gardner's life
and his history and the way that he's functioning. People with low
IQs can sometimes
00:28:19
have what we call low
frustration tolerance, and that means exactly
what it sounds like.
00:28:24
This usually stems
from the fact that they might have difficulty
understanding or communicating
00:28:29
or expressing their want
and needs due to the fact that they simply don't
have the ability to do
00:28:34
so because of the low IQ. Maybe Gardner didn't actually
have ADHD as a child. He had low frustration
tolerance combined
00:28:44
with the trauma that he
experienced as a child, and he was unable
to express that.
00:28:50
[ominous music] NARRATOR: Almost one year after
the murder, Kayla Morrow and Andrew Abbott agreed
to a plea deal
00:29:01
and appeared in court
for sentencing. Morrow was sentenced
to 10 years for robbery,
00:29:08
and Abbott was given 15 years
for second-degree murder and robbery. Both received reduced
sentences for cooperating
00:29:17
and testifying against Brandon
Harrelson in his trial. He was found guilty of first
degree murder and robbery
00:29:25
and sentenced to life
in prison plus 30 years. When it came
to Gardner's turn, he
00:29:32
definitely wasn't cooperating. - Mr. Gardner pled not
guilty to the charges, and we went to trial.
00:29:39
CHARLES VAUGHN: His defense
was he didn't do it. He was there and he
did not participate
00:29:44
in the actual beating
and kicking of Preston Talley. NARRATOR: In May
2019, three years
00:29:52
after the murder,
Gardner's trial took place at the Hernando
County Courthouse. [tense music]
00:30:01
CHARLES VAUGHN: During
the trial, he had no clothes. His family didn't
bring him any clothes,
00:30:06
so I loaned him clothes. He was about
the same size as me, so I loaned him clothes
for every day of the trial,
00:30:12
and we had to cover up as many
of his tattoos as we could. He actually looked good.
00:30:17
I told him, you
cannot be disrupted during the trial because the
jury is going to dislike that.
00:30:22
And he was well-behaved
during the trial. WILLARD BRIAN
STEPHENS: When I was in the trial with Mr.
Gardner, I did not
00:30:28
observe any signs of remorse. He was relatively calm. He came across as very
cold and very heartless.
00:30:37
The evidence
presented at the trial was the forensic evidence that
was collected at the scene.
00:30:41
The phone records,
the Plenty of Fish data, as well as the witnesses. CHARLES VAUGHN: The trial
took about two days and
00:30:49
the jury deliberated, I
think, about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. That's not a real long time.
00:30:55
But it was hard to argue
against the evidence. There was an awful
lot of evidence.
00:31:00
Brandon Harrelson testified
against him at the trial, and Kayla Morrow testified
against him at the trial.
00:31:06
NARRATOR: Gardner
was found guilty. - Knowing Josh like
I did after spending many, many hours with him in
prep and through the discovery
00:31:14
process, when he
heard the verdict, he didn't really
react or respond. He just acted like
he accepted it.
00:31:23
NARRATOR: Gardner
was sentenced to life without parole, a sentence
that did not please many.
00:31:31
CHARLES VAUGHN: It seemed
to me to be premeditated, cold, calculated, heinous, atrocious
and cruel because they ran him
00:31:37
around and beat him
as he was screaming, "please don't, please stop." And then screaming and gurgling
whenever he was dying
00:31:45
and they still beat him. He knew he was dying. He knew they were
going to kill him.
00:31:50
I thought that it should have
been a death penalty case, but the state attorney
chose not to do it.
00:31:55
That's their decision. LINA HAJI: A death
penalty is usually determined by what we call
aggravating factors and
00:32:02
mitigating factors. When you look at Gardner,
there were aggravating factors. I mean, the premeditation,
the fact
00:32:09
that he used the app
to lure his victim, the fact that he has violent
history, those
00:32:13
are all aggravating factors. But he also did have a lot
of mitigating factors. He had such
a traumatic childhood,
00:32:20
that combined with
the low IQ, it doesn't surprise me
that ultimately, he was not given the death penalty.
00:32:30
NARRATOR: Gardner was sent
back to Santa Rosa Correctional Facility, where he had been
held since being charged
00:32:37
with Preston's murder in 2016. PATRICK KING: Santa Rosa
CI is one of the toughest
00:32:43
prisons in Florida. It offers closed
management, which is like the highest level
of prison can offer,
00:32:48
other than one tougher prison
in the state of Florida, which is Florida State Prison
that houses death row inmates.
00:32:54
JAMIE MORGAN KANE: Sharing
a cell with a person is a balancing act
in a lot of cases.
00:32:59
The first thing they
tell you, never ask a man how much time he's doing. So usually, you don't talk,
you stare at each other,
00:33:07
and then you go to sleep. NARRATOR: Four
years passed where it appeared Gardner kept his
head down and toed the line.
00:33:16
In early 2020, he was housed
in a cell with fellow inmate Jose Aparicio-Becerra.
00:33:23
[tense music] PATRICK KING: Jose
Aparicio-Becerra, he was also serving
a life sentence
00:33:31
for second-degree murder. As far as we can
tell, there doesn't appear to be any issues between
Jose Becerra and Gardner.
00:33:39
He thought he was a cool guy. They got along. There was no beef between them. BRIAN SUDUL: It doesn't really
matter what your crime is.
00:33:45
You can be bunked with anyone. Murderer with robber or robber
with a robber, their crime
00:33:50
really doesn't have issue
why they're celled together, it's usually
their custody level.
00:33:56
NARRATOR: One of their shared
pastimes was drug-taking. PATRICK KING: Drugs
come into the prison
00:34:01
primarily externally. Most of our cases, we
get a lot of introduction of contraband cases, come from
visitors or staff members.
00:34:09
Maybe a nurse, maybe a guard
smuggles drugs into the prison. Sometimes people use drones
or camouflage outfits
00:34:17
near the prison
wall and they'll try to throw drugs
over, but the most common is probably
a conduit from a staff
00:34:23
member or a visitor. JAMIE MORGAN KANE: Inmates take
drugs in prison as an escape.
00:34:29
Same reason people take
them on the streets. It's the same reason
why inmates brew alcohol
00:34:34
in prison as an escape. It's a way from
thinking about where. If you're not getting
letters from the outside,
00:34:42
if you don't get visits
from the outside, prison can become a very,
very lonely, lonely place.
00:34:48
[ominous music] BRIAN SUDUL:
On February 1, 2020, both inmates decided they
were going to use meth and
00:34:59
some ecstasy at the same time. That was not a good idea. They probably were both
like, "oh, let's experiment.
00:35:06
Let's take this drug and this
drug and see what happens." It probably turned them
both into a monster.
00:35:11
LINA HAJI: When you have
regular use and distribution of drugs in prison, it
makes the environment
00:35:17
that much scarier and that
much more dangerous. When people use drugs, they
tend to become disinhibited.
00:35:23
They can become more impulsive. It's really a recipe
for disaster, which is why correctional
facilities are
00:35:30
such dangerous environments. PATRICK KING: The early
morning hours, lights out there in the dorm.
00:35:37
The guards make rounds, I
think, about every 30 minutes. BRIAN SUDUL: In the general
housing unit,
00:35:44
each cell doesn't
have a camera. They're just--
they're just scattered out through the institution.
00:35:50
Cells that have
cameras are for SAMs, Special Administrative
Measures. And they were usually
like al-Qaeda terrorists
00:35:56
or something like that. But normally, cells
don't have cameras. PATRICK KING: Around 1:00 AM,
you can hear on the fixed wing
00:36:04
video a man screaming,
who we believe is Mr. Becerra, screaming in pain, and
you hear several loud thuds.
00:36:10
There's a pause. Then about a minute
later, you can hear more screaming and more loud thuds.
00:36:21
The fixed wing video doesn't
show the actual murder because of where it's fixed.
00:36:25
It can only show
the exteriors of the cells, but you can hear
a lot of commentary
00:36:29
and hear what's going on. Joshua Gardner ends up talking
to several other prisoners.
00:36:38
They're saying
things like, "what are you doing to that man?" And "you need
to save his life."
00:36:44
BRIAN SUDUL:
In Florida, killing an inmate is like killing
a free person, you know.
00:36:47
People get killed on the
street, the same laws apply. That's what this inmate
was trying to tell him.
00:36:52
Listen, man, you're
going to get hung. You know, they're going
to hang you out there
00:36:56
because you're
committing homicide, and you're going
to get punished just like you did it on the street.
00:37:01
PATRICK KING: Joshua Gardner
responds with things like, "I think he's dead, bro."
00:37:04
"He's gone, bro." The other prisoners
eventually get to the point where they
kick and slam on their doors
00:37:10
extremely loud, like hundreds
of prisoners doing that. And that draws the guards.
00:37:17
When the guards
looked into the cell, they saw Mr. Becerra laying
on his back with his feet
00:37:22
toward the door. Almost like
in a cross position, with his arms kind
of out to his sides.
00:37:28
There was blood everywhere
on both Mr. Becerra and Mr. Gardner. And Mr. Becerra had
extensive wounds to his head,
00:37:37
you know, bleeding
profusely, fractured face. And then the most
notable thing is
00:37:41
he had a deformed skull,
like a concave indentation on his skull. And he was not responsive.
00:37:47
He was unconscious. NARRATOR: Miraculously,
Mr. Aparicio-Becerra was still alive.
00:37:53
He was rushed to the hospital. At the prison, an investigation
was immediately launched.
00:38:00
Captain Latoya Brown, the
supervising officer on duty, recounted what
she had witnessed.
00:39:12
- This was an unusual
prison murder in the sense that it was a brutal beating
where there's blood everywhere.
00:39:18
Typically in our area, when we
have like prison assaults and murders, it's more focused.
00:39:23
So someone may use like
a lock on a pillowcase as a weapon to hit
them in the head.
00:39:29
Or they may use like a homemade
knife and stab someone or strangle them even like
while they're sleeping,
00:39:35
that kind of thing. Because normally when
you attack someone, you're trying to accomplish
a person trying to kill them.
00:39:40
And so you may want to do
that in an overpowering way, so they're not
going to hurt you.
00:39:44
It's more rare
to have a beating death because like that person
could fight back against you.
00:39:48
It's less certain. So it was strange in that sense
than just the amount of blood
00:39:52
on the scene. NARRATOR: As soon
as Mr. Aparicio-Becerra had been removed from
the cell, the captain
00:40:01
spoke directly to Gardner. But when Gardner is
formally interviewed, he told a different story.
00:41:07
PATRICK KING:
Originally, the case was handled
by the inspector general's office for the Department
of Corrections.
00:41:12
When this first happened,
they weren't aware it was going to become a murder. Jose didn't pass away
until March 16 of 2020,
00:41:19
so about six weeks later,
he died of complications to blunt force trauma. [ominous music]
00:41:31
NARRATOR: Four
years later, Gardner stood trial for the murder
of his cellmate. PATRICK KING: We're outside the
Santa Rosa County Courthouse
00:41:40
here in Milton, Florida,
where Joshua Gardner was tried on September 18. He had pled not guilty.
00:41:48
Mr. Gardner was
arguing for a lesser included offense manslaughter
versus second-degree murder.
00:41:54
He acknowledged he
killed Mr. Becerra but he was saying that he was
less culpable than murder.
00:42:00
The atmosphere of the trial
was pretty calm. The courtroom wasn't too full. There was just the jurors,
court security personnel,
00:42:07
and then the lawyers. What stood out
to me the most was how the jury reacted to the
audio of Mr. Becerra being
00:42:14
killed, when they
could hear his screams and they could hear
the long pauses and thuds.
00:42:18
You could see the jury
visibly reacted. NARRATOR: The jury found him
guilty of second-degree murder.
00:42:28
He was given another life
sentence without parole. PATRICK KING: This
trial highlighted
00:42:34
for me the senselessness
of the killing of Mr. Becerra. Mr. Gardner never provided any
kind of reasonable explanation
00:42:41
for why he did it. He didn't even
seem to know based on his audio
recorded interview.
00:42:46
It was completely unprovoked,
and he even said Mr. Becerra and him were on good terms.
00:42:50
They were good buddies. He was a cool guy. So it was just a completely
senseless killing.
00:42:55
It was very disturbing
to me, especially seeing Mr. Becerra's
physical condition,
00:43:00
you know, like his
skull and his face. Even to this day,
he's never said there was any motive, any purpose.
00:43:06
It just was totally
unnecessary and random. So it's possible we may see Mr.
Gardner again in the future.
00:43:11
LINA HAJI: Gardner had no
disciplinary reports in prison for four years, which
is a very long time.
00:43:19
He went right from zero
disciplinary reports for four years to gruesomely
murdering his cellmate.
00:43:25
So that really does
lend to the theory that the methamphetamine
probably played a role in what happened here.
00:43:34
Because, again,
Gardner is somebody who has been
a victim of violence and a perpetrator of violence
essentially his entire life.
00:43:44
You take that, combined with
a drug like methamphetamine, and this is what you get.
00:43:49
CHARLES VAUGHN:
When I found out about what he did
to his cellmate and put that back
together with everything I
00:43:55
already know about him, I
believe that he would not stop. I think if given
an opportunity,
00:44:01
he would probably do it again. PATRICK KING: Mr.
Gardner was returned back to Florida State Prison in
Raiford, Florida, the highest
00:44:08
level prison in Florida,
and then he was subsequently transferred back here
to Santa Rosa County and
00:44:13
Santa Rosa Correctional
Institution, where he's currently housed. LINA HAJI: It's pretty
shocking that Gardner is not
00:44:19
in solitary confinement because
he's done this once in society. He's done it once in prison.
00:44:25
He has two life sentences. What is to stop him
from doing it again? Nothing. [ominous music]
00:44:37
[theme music]